The DaVita Headquarters building is beginning to make its full presence in the area. The crane has been taken down, the facade is climbing up the building day by day, and you can begin to see the real shape of this building (not to mention a nice slanted roof).
Looking directly at the front of the project from 16th Street, you can see the nice seamless glass wall, matching its neighbor building as well as some other buildings in the area. On the other side, facing 16th Street directly, it looks like there will be a complete wall of glass as the facade. Neat!
On to the back side, you have a nice slanted rooftop and a great looking backdrop to the rail tracks. On the right, you can see how DaVita and its neighbor (1900 16th Street) have very similar facades. Having the two buildings so close together prevents any clash and is easy on the eyes. The slanted roof also gives Denver something it hasn’t seen much in the past.
It’s always nice seeing other construction projects around you when taking pictures. From the Millennium Bridge, you can see 2020 Lawrence beginning to poke out. That’s its red crane and a concrete pump. Soon you will be able to see this project from the bridge!
Super update! Thanks for doing all the work. 🙂
As happy as I am to see another HQ in downtown Denver, still wish DaVita had been able to consume one of the area’s surface parking lots instead of packing the building so close to 1900 16th. That said, it’s a great location for employees who can take light rail to work…..
Actually, not too long ago, the DaVita land WAS surface parking, unimproved (e.g., dirt), a temporary use that followed the area’s conversion from rail yards.
I like the crowding. This is downtown, not the DTC. The bridge will be just fine with buildings surrounding it–just look to the other side of the CML, where buildings abut the bridge.
The davita building looks like it will do nothing to enhance the pedestrian streetscape along 16th and it really crowds in the millenium bridge stairs. The bridge should be treated like a denver landmark and public gathering space, but it seems like we will be walking straight into a blank concrete wall?
If you definition of “straight into” is “next to”, then you are correct.
The millenium bridge a denver landmark?? Hardly. It’s a pedestrian bridge to get people over the railroad tracks with a little extra flair added. It kinda looks nautical and doesn’t really fit the city, but whatever…it serves it’s function.
Personally, I’m glad the Davita building is “crowding” it. The less that bridge sticks out, the better. Looking forward to the last lot around it being built out.
I dunno… I just think people have gotten used to the millenium bridge standing all on its own for so long, they think that’s how it’s supposed to be. Keep in mind this was ALWAYS the plan, in fact high density is probably one of the reasons the bridge was built in the first place. Keep in mind, there will (probably sooner than later) be a building right on the other side of 16th from it that will only be SLIGHTLY further set back because of the 16th street mall shuttle lane.
And I’m not sure that it really needs to do all that much for the streetscape anyway since its ground floor is tucked back behind where the average pedestrian will begin climbing the stairs. I don’t think there is much more we could expect from a Fortune 500 headquarters… look at the other big corporate office buildings around town… they ALL use the ground floor and next couple floors for an extensive lobby and company conference room space. But that said, there will be PLENTY of retail in this district, don’t you worry. What the area really needs right now is FOOT TRAFFIC (the entire ground floor of 1900 16th still has no retail tenants), and what better to give it an instant injection of daytime foot traffic than a Fortune 500 headquarters? On top of that, I think the slanted roof and rooftop deck (a major upgrade from the original “1900 16th phase two” design) easily trumps the tiny amount of retail that they could have fit on the ground floor, and that change was almost certainly made by Davita and not the original developer.
Dave, the millenium bridge lands at a large plaza space in front of the main entrance into the Davita building, not into a concrete wall. Also, the bridge was always intended to be be surround by large buildings, it just happened to be built first so many people seem to think it is supposed to be a landmark vsisible from a distance in all directions. When completed, the bridge and surronding buildings will create a nicely dense urban feel, which is what we should expect so close to the city center.